Rapala VMC and Shimano set to improve on 2014 sales

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Rapala VMC Corporation and Shimano have updated investors on their sales performances for the year so far.

Rapala VMC Corporation and Shimano – two of the world’s biggest fishing tackle manufacturers – are on course to beat last year’s sales performances.

For the year to date, Shimano reported fishing tackle net sales up 10.2% to 48,811m yen, while Rapala has seen its sales grow during the first nine months of the year by 3% to €218.6m compared to €211.7m, and operating profit up 14% to €24.1m (€21.1m).

However, Rapala told investors that its sales for the three months to September 30th, 2015 were €64.5m – down 5% on the comparable quarter last year.

Rapala President and CEO Jorma Kasslin said that overall market conditions in the third quarter were ‘relatively stable and unsurprising’, but added the performance was impacted by ‘timing issues’ in the US market which affected distribution of product.

The company reported that summer weather conditions were favourable in markets such as the US and France, stimulating sales, while it was overall cold in other markets, such as the Nordic countries.

It added that the market situation in Russia and Ukraine continues to be difficult. The start of the sales of ice fishing products was behind last year’s strong opening – partly due to the timing issue – shifting sales to the last quarter.

Shimano reported that although the Japanese market was affected by typhoons for a while in the early part of the year, the trend was generally favourable as the weather stabilised over the summer with sales exceeding last year’s comparable level.

It added: “Overseas, sales were generally robust and were better than the previous year thanks to the launch of new products and relatively stable weather.”

Total Shimano sales, including its bicycle components business, were 286,840m yen – up 19% on the previous year.